Restaurant review: Cafe Cafe

Restaurant: Cafe Cafe
Cuisine: French
Address: 175, Jalan Maharajalela, KL
Tel: 603 2145 8141
Website: www.cafecafekl.com
Verdict: definitely worth going back! In fact, I've told my dad about it and we'll most probably bring the family there again soon to try..

I am SUUUUUU-PER stuffed!

Rommel and I decided to try Cafe Cafe, a quirky French restaurant on Jalan Maharajalela, near the Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka building. My colleague Geraldine has been telling me about this place and how nice it is... Rommel has been there before about 3-4 yrs ago and remembered it as good too. He always said he wanted to take me there so finally we did!

The Food:
We had the 4-course meals since it allows you to try more stuff on the menu as opposed to the a la carte which are bigger in portions (I think so, cos the other tables that took just a main course looked like they had much bigger portions. But I could be wrong.. The only way to confirm is to go again! Haha.. such gluttony!)

I had half a dozen baked escargots with truffle oil as my first starter... Yummy, you can never dislike anything with truffles in them.. Next was their soup of the day - mushroom soup. This was a bit of a disappointment but Rommel said that's cos the mushroom soup we make at home is way better. However, they added truffle oil into the soup so that made it nicer. (Note to myself: Im gonna hunt for a bottle of good truffle oil. Anyone has any recommendations?)

For my main course, I had a risotto with black truffles and white truffle oil (I think you would have noticed the mushroom/truffle theme I had going tonight). Really nice, I always love risotto.. Another place in KL that serves good risotto is Banquet in Bangsar Village 2, which incidentally, is Cafe Cafe's sister restaurant!

Rommel ordered pan fried foie gras with a balsamic vinegarette salad. Yummy too as the foie gras was just nicely fried, slightly burnt at the bottom so its crunchy.. His next course was escargots in some butter and parsley sauce.. This was not too bad but not as nice as mine.

He chose the wagyu beef cheek for his main course which came out perfect! Nicer than even the one at Max Fine Foods and Wine! (at Tengkat Tong Shin) Am definitely going back for this dish..

For dessert, we shared a tiramisu and a chocolate cake.. Tiramisu was not too bad but my favourite one is still the Shook! one (at Star Hill). The chocolate cake, Rommel said, was one of their really good desserts which was why I chose it. It is more like the chocolate fondant at Le Francois (at One Bangsar) but I prefer the Cafe Cafe version as it is not too sweet and they decorated it really nicely.

The Ambience:
Small and cosy, quirky deco which I quite like. Dark furniture with soft lighting which makes the place really romantic... Quite a number of the tables were just couples... The place gives me the same vibes as La Tasca in Covent Garden, London although La Tasca is a tapas/Spanish bar. Nice crowd, not too noisy.. Only thing though, they could have a slightly better choice in music - they had xmas carols then some weird Japanese song, then some French songs.. It's like the CD player couldnt make up its mind.

The Service:
Thumbs-up for the waiters. Very attentive but not overbearing. Good, proper service with smiling faces (who likes a sulky waiter anyway) The manager also served us a white wine jelly with fruits in it... He said this was a new recipe they were experimenting and wanted comments. We basically said the alcohol taste was slightly too strong.. perhaps less of the wine or more sugar.. Am not too sure what was wrong with it but I frankly didnt quite like it.. Although the grapes in it were quite nice..

The Wine:
Rommel had a house French red and I had an Italian white. Problem: the wines tasted flat, as if they've been opened for too long already. Which is most likely the case since they were the house wines. Or perhaps both of us have been spoiled by my dad with his fancy wines. After all, my dad always says that if you dont enjoy the wine or think something's not quite right with it, just dont drink it. In any case, next time I'll stick to the Hoegaarden or go with my dad and ask him to bring a bottle from home.
Corkage: RM50 for wines, RM70 for champagne and RM100 for hard liquor

The Cost:
Almost RM400, including tipping etc. which was not too bad considering the amount of food we had!
They also provide you with a free magazine (the name is Men's Folio) if you spend more than RM300.
As we asked for their business card, the manager gave us their sort of brochure for Cafe Cafe and the latest menu for Banquet as well... Banquet is having some champagne buffet thingy going on so I think that's where we'll head to next... Hehe..

Overall: I'm taking my family there once my siblings are back from London and we find a free evening! As we always say, if the food is good, people will come.